The Eternal State

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So, if you have your
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Bibles, if you would, turn to, again, the Book of Revelation and to Chapter 21.
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Before we read, I want to make a few remarks and say this first.
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I'm thankful that I was given this task of speaking about the eternal state for a number of reasons.
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And as I just said to a couple of the brothers, I'm so thankful I get to go last this time because I have been fed by Brother Mike and Brother Keith by their ability to not only see the
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Scriptures for what they are, but also to see it in the context in which it ought to be seen and from a historical position and from different views.
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And so, again, I'm just thankful I've had the opportunity to listen to them and I hope you would agree that we've been fed by both of them.
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And then also, I'm thankful because here's the reality, no matter what view you take about the eternal state, no matter whether you're premillennial, as we heard, and any one of those nuances of being a premillennialist, or whether you're a amillennialist, as Brother Keith brought out and as we hold to here, or you're a postmillennialist, and again, there are those that have taken that position, or you're a partial preterist.
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I wouldn't necessarily say a full preterist because I think they're just cray -cray, but that's just me.
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But here's the point, brothers and sisters, that the reality is it doesn't matter what view you take.
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It does matter, but it doesn't matter in comparison to the eternal state.
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Because guess what? In the eternal state, everybody's view will be the right one. And so again,
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I have, in that sense, the opportunity to speak about something that, when it takes place, will create complete understanding.
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I've often said it, and I know some of the brothers who have set free here, and I say it there, that death will change a man's opinion of God.
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Death will change your end times view. It will at least put it in its right place.
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And so again, I guess the last thing I'll say as far as being thankful for being able to go last and speak about this is that the eternal state is just that.
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It's the eternal state. It's the state that we will be in that will never end.
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And that, in and of itself, is a glorious thought, and yet, as I hope to at least demonstrate as we move through this today, that it is either the most glorious thought that you could possess, or, in reality, it's the most fearful thought that you should possess.
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Because the eternal state is a state in which we will exist forever and ever and ever and ever.
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It is the time when the triune God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, will be finally glorified in absolute brightness and brilliance, will be worshipped, and there will be no interruption, no end, no break.
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The understanding of the eternal state is something that we ought to look forward to if we are right with God, and we ought to seek to remedy if we are wrong with God.
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I want to also say this, and I thought about this, and maybe you'll agree and maybe not, and again, all disagreements go to Brother Mike or Brother Keith.
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But I want to say this. I do think that as we come to this thought of the eternal state, that there is a great contrast, if you will, of how people view it.
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Like, in other words, if you just walked up to someone on the street and said, well, what do you think about eternity? I think you would at least get, well, you'd probably get a whole lot of different thoughts, but I do think two major themes would come out of it, and it would depend on where you are in relationship to God.
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I think the distinction is that if you were to ask the person who doesn't really know who
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Christ is, doesn't really have a living relationship, that as they contemplated eternity, they would probably draw a contrast between heaven and hell.
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I also think that if you were to ask a believer, a true child of God, that as he or she contemplated eternity, that it would not be as much of a distinction between heaven and hell, because they are already right with God, but it would be a distinction between this world and the new heavens and the new earth.
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And there's a difference between that. There's a difference in thought in those two.
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And again, the one who would say, as they thought about eternity, it's the difference between heaven and hell, they're trying to avoid judgment.
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Whereas the believer has already been resurrected, as Brother Keith brought out, and so he doesn't have that fear of judgment, and yet he realizes, even as I would say,
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Paul says, to be with Christ is far better. And so as you and I think about that, and I think as we go through the scriptures, it needs to be kept in our mind that you and I, as we contemplate the eternal state, ought to contemplate it in the right way, in the clearness of how it's presented.
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And so as we read through the scriptures, I want you to ask yourself continually, where are you in the movement towards the eternal state?
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And I want to make sure that I say this a number of times. The eternal state includes everyone.
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Because here's the thing, and I struggled as I was trying to put some thoughts together to this, that I so wanted to only focus on the joy and the glory of it all, and the brilliance of it all, and the relationship that I will have for all eternity, and yet I found myself fighting because that is not solely the eternal state.
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Because the eternal state will capture everyone, both his and not his.
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And so again, I think we do injustice to that topic of the eternal state if we make that mistake of only thinking of it in terms of heaven or hell, or it's going to be so wonderful, because again, it's going to encompass everything, because that's where we're all headed.
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You and I are here this morning, and here's the reality, as sure, listen, as sure as the arrows of death are sent by God, they will find every one of us.
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God will never miss when he has sent his messenger to bring us into that eternal state.
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All who have ever had the breath of life, all who have ever had the breath of life from the beginning till now will be there in the eternal state.
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No one will be excluded from it. It will be the most inclusive event ever.
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I asked Brother Mike, I said, would you mind if I mentioned D -E -I in my message? And I said, would you throw a tomato at me?
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And he said he would. But in that sense, the eternal state is a state in which there is no diversity in that sense, because everybody will be there.
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It is absolutely inclusive, and the eternal state, if you consider it rightly,
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I believe, is colorblind. Let me just read to you what
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Jesus said in Matthew 25. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one from the other, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left.
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So let me say to you this way, the eternal state will include both Jews and Gentiles, saved and lost.
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Those that entered eternity 10 ,000 years ago, and those that entered eternity 10 days ago.
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Those that were well -known, those that were unknown. The eternal state will encompass both rich and poor, the famous and the infamous, those who knew the
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Bible very good, very well, and those that did not know the Bible. And again, that's why
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I say to you, this topic, this truth of the eternal state, is one that ought to silence us if we truly meditate upon it.
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And as Brother Keith mentioned, and I just want to mention it again, is as we consider the eternal state, not talking about the intermediate state, right, because we could spend time on that, and that is again the teaching, of course, of how as the believer gives up the ghost in his body, at this point, that as Jesus said to the thief on the cross, today you shall be in paradise, that the intermediate state is that which
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Brother Keith talked about, and that is not what the eternal state will be like, that the final resurrection and the final eternal state that you and I enter into.
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And here's the thing, in one sense this is a glorious topic, in another sense it's very difficult, because we haven't entered it to yet, and all we can do is try to get a glimpse of it, try to see something about it, because I will submit to you the eternal state will only be truly understood in the eternal state.
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I should get a trophy for that statement, get a crown.
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But that's the reality, isn't it? That eye has not seen, ear has not heard the things that God has prepared for them that love
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Him, and that you and I, in truth, we can know something, but in reality we're grasping at straws, and yet God is so gracious in giving us straws to grasp at, as far as the eternal state.
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And I also will just mention that I'm not talking about the teaching of soul sleep or anything like that, in that period in between the eternal state being real, that if a believer dies, their soul just goes to sleep, or even an unbeliever, they just go to sleep and then they don't wake up again.
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Those kinds of things, friends, are not really in the scope of talking about the eternal state.
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Okay, having said that, I want to ask you to turn to Revelation chapter 21, and picking a text out,
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I asked myself what I would look at, and so I want to look at specifically Revelation 21, verses 1 through 8, but I also would like to read from verse 9 through chapter 22, verse 5, and again, as Brother Keith had mentioned, and I know
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Brother Mike mentions this, that I do believe that Revelation chapter 21, verses 1 through 8, we are given an understanding of the eternal state, and then in verses 9 through chapter 22, verse 5, he kind of recapitulates and goes back and retells the same thing again and again, and that seems to be the pattern in looking at things.
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So, I want to specifically look at verses 1 through 8, make some remarks from verses 9 through 22, verse 5, and just so you know,
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Brother Mike was an hour and 40 minutes, Brother Keith was, he told me he was only going to do 45 minutes, that didn't work, so whenever I end,
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I'll end. Go to the eternal state!
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You might have to have a bathroom break in between though. Alright, let's read, and again, for you that might not know,
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I do read from the New King James, so, and because it's a longer section, you do not have to stand,
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I hope you have reverence for the word of God, whether you're standing or sitting. Revelation chapter 21 through Revelation chapter 22, verse 5,
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And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea.
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Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for a husband.
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And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their
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God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away.
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Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me,
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Write, for these things are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
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He who overcomes shall inherit all things. I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
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But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
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Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying,
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Come, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
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Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
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And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
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And she had a great and high wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates, and the names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
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Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
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Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.
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And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs, its length, breadth, and height are equal.
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Then he measured its wall, a hundred and forty -four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of an angel.
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And the construction of the wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass.
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And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardox, the sixth sardius, the seventh crystallite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysophras, the eleventh jaceth, and the twelfth amaryst.
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And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
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But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
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The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the
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Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor to it.
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Its gates shall not be shut all the day, and there shall be no more night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the
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Lamb's book of life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the
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Lamb, and in the middle of the street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there shall be no more curse.
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For the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads, and there shall be no more night there.
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They shall need, they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the
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Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.
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And may God bless his word. So as I said,
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I want to look specifically at verses one through eight and just kind of walk through them for a little bit and ask us to think about some things.
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And so in verse one, he says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I'll just stop there for a minute because that's in and of itself is so illuminating, isn't it?
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Just think how the Bible opens up in Genesis. In the beginning,
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God created the heavens and the earth. And I don't care how you view the age of this world, whether you want to stretch it out or you want to compress it, and I do think compressing it is the wiser way.
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But regardless, the Bible opens up in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and then there's history.
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And then we come to something like what is said here,
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I saw a new heaven and a new earth. My friends, the eternal state is something that is going to be new.
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The eternal state is something that will take place at a certain point.
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It declares how God, as I said in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth and God created a paradise.
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Remember that? Well, guess what? In the new heavens and the new earth, in the eternal state, there will be another paradise.
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But remember now, not a refurbished one from the beginning, no, no.
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It will be new. It will be created by God, for God, and for that eternal state which will take place.
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It declares that there was a paradise, and also, think about this, in the eternal state, some will have unending, unceasing joy, peace, rest, and we'll get to that in a little bit.
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But never lose sight, in the eternal state, there will be those who will have none of that.
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And that ought to scare people to death. That the eternal state, my friends, is not going to be a do -over from this heavens and earth.
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As I said, it's not going to be a refurbished project.
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And I think we would make a mistake if we didn't realize that in the eternal state, it is what
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God has purposed from before he even created the heavens and the earth.
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You know, what God starts, God finishes. What God did in the beginning,
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God has a conclusion for it. I often wonder when people talk about this, the existential events that could happen, climate change, and nuclear war, and beep to bop, and bop to beep.
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Well, guess what? The existential event comes from the Lord God Almighty.
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Not from men. What God starts, God finishes.
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I'll put it to you this way, this is the way I wrote it to myself, and so I want to read it just the way I said it to myself.
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The God who is outside of space and time has had a plan for both space and time before space and time began.
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And it will last for all time. I'm going to read that one more time.
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The God who is outside of space and time has had a plan for both space and time from before time that will last without any time.
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That's how we ought to view the eternal state. And as I say, it's not something, it's not a
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DIY project on the part of the living God. Let me read to you what Peter says.
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2 Peter 3, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, and both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved?
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Being on fire, elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
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So as I say, as you begin even to look at the very opening words of what has been labeled as chapter 21 and verse 1, and he saw a new heavens and a new earth, that ought to be a great part of our understanding of the eternal state.
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It is something that will be absolutely new. And it will be new in space and in time.
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And I think that's important. That we understand the eternal state is not just some, it will not just be spirits floating around.
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It will be a new heavens and a new earth, and it will be possessed, and it will be structure, and it will be inhabitants, and it will go on forever and ever and ever.
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I also want to say this, if you look at the very first verse, and it says this, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
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It no longer exists. And then it says, and there will be no more sea.
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I just want to stop there for a second. All right. We were talking about it.
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Brother Keith and Brother Mike, we were talking about it on messages, and I mentioned that.
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That had to be explained a little bit. Brother Mike said, you mean there's no more beaches? No, you can't move to the beach.
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But I don't believe that's what it means, that there's just not going to be any more oceans or bodies of water.
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Now, whether there is or not, I don't know, but I don't think that's what this means. So just think about that, how the
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Bible presents that whole idea of the sea. And there's a number of different ways you can look at it.
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Certainly, the sea at times is used to explain the ungodly actions of men and kings as they seek to disturb and cause uprisings in the earth, and that's something, and you can even read it in Psalm 2.
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The kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and against His anointed, and they seek to cause continual unrest, and so the sea represents sometimes the world at large and the trials and the turmoil and the evil that comes out of it.
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I also think that you could find some solid scriptural basis for what the
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Bible talks about when it talks about the sea, and it talks about the sea as Isaiah does, as far as the hearts of men.
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That the wicked are what? Like the troubled sea, which cannot find rest.
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It kicks up the dirt, and it kicks up the mire. And I also think the sea at other times is just truly given to us with an understanding of things that are mysterious, of the depth of the sea and of the great things that God has created in the sea and the great things that still today remain secret.
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So I don't believe necessarily that what he's saying is that there is no more bodies of water, but that the sea, because of that, has a number of different understandings.
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Think about Revelation 13, 13 -1, and it says the beast arises out of the sea.
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Well, I got to tell you, folks, now I know my wife likes Godzilla movies, but I do not believe that Revelation 13 -1 is talking about some
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Godzilla -like creature breaking the surface right next to the aircraft carrier.
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There's more to it. And that's why I say the eternal state is somewhat beyond our capacity to understand, and yet we ought to try to understand it as best we could.
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But I will say this. The eternal state will be a state in which everything is settled.
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The eternal state will be the state in which everything is settled with no more change.
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Now that doesn't mean that we won't grow in grace. It doesn't mean that we're going to just sit in a chair for all eternity and worship
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God. I believe that we are going to, in that sense, expand our minds and our lives as God reveals further and further because, listen,
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God is incomprehensible. You think there's just going to be some conversation in the eternal state where God says, well,
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I just want to explain this to you and that to you? Okay, we're all done, boys. That forever and ever and ever and ever and without end, behold the majesty of God for those that know
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Him. But again, see how I'm drifting? I'm drifting into that, onto the side of the great joy and the great beauty, but listen, there's also the reality of the eternal state for those that don't know
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God. And it will be unceasing gnashing of teeth and sorrow and pain and judgment.
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I often remember what, and I read it, I don't know, probably close to 50 years ago, I guess, Matthew Henry said that hell was the place where God poured out
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His judgment without time or mixture.
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Hell was where God poured out His wrath without time or mixture.
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And so again, as we think about this and think about the eternal state, please continue to allow that to sink into your mind that the eternal state encompasses everyone and that you and I in the eternal state, it ought to cause us great consideration.
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I always get a kick out of how people, and I've heard people say this, and I'm sure you have, people will say something like, you know, when
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I get to eternity, I got some questions for God. Me and God are going to have a conversation.
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I assure you, you will be silent. I assure you the eternal state is not like some town hall meeting where you get to exchange ideas with God as if God is subject to you.
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Listen, all are subject to God in the eternal state. Again, depending on where you are in relationship to Him, that's why
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I say that even the very thought of the eternal state should cause us all to truly consider where we are.
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Now, I want to move on, and again, I want to be mindful of my time. And so in verse 2, John says this,
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Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband.
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As far as these words, I want to just make a brief comment or two, because I do think if we spend too much time on this, and you can certainly as far as who is the
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New Jerusalem and what is that understanding that we had, that we'll never get through even up to verse 8.
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But nevertheless, two things. Number one,
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I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
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And that in the eternal state, it needs to be understood as that also will be something new.
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That that also will be something new, and that this new heavens and new earth will be prepared for the
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New Jerusalem. And I will tell you what I believe. I believe the
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New Jerusalem is the church of God. Now, I do also want you to think and consider that it is a place that has, again, a locality.
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Listen, I hope you would agree with me, and maybe you won't. And again, see Brother Mike later.
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But I hope you will at least consider that the church of Jesus Christ will only be gathered together in a locality in the new heavens and in the new earth.
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At that point, that doesn't mean that we're not spread out through space and time now.
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But it will be something new, because it will never have been in place before.
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Not only that, but as John says this, and he describes it for us, he says, It comes down out of heaven from God, praise
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God, prepared as a bride adorned for our husband.
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Now, let's just think about that for a second. I don't know about you, but I don't think that we ought to think about a city that's just with walls and jewels and different things like that, because I don't know about you, but I don't want to marry a building.
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I want to ask us to think about that even in this, we are told something of the greatness of the relationship of Christ and his church.
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That the eternal state, and we could spend much time on this, that it's not just something that we ought to think of as literal.
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You know, there's a lot of issues to deal with in the book of Revelation, and a lot of it is how do you handle what's literal versus what's symbolic, or what's in a way given to us to explain something else, and that's a whole other subject that we could spend a whole lot of time on.
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But just think about it, friends, the husband -wife relationship, the bride and the groom. I mean, it's mentioned throughout the
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Bible, right? I mean, certainly husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word, and he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
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That you can consider that the eternal state is going to be the wedding when the wedding feast takes place.
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I mean, you could read about that, I believe, in Matthew 22, as God speaks of it there.
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And it says that she's adorned, that means she's all decked out. Man, I've been to a bunch of weddings, but I've never been to a wedding like the eternal state, and that the eternal state is the place where God will be the groom and his people will be his bride.
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It will be a visible, structural place.
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That's right, that's the Spirit of God saying amen again. But I, John, saw the holy city of New Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride for a husband, and then verse 3, and I heard a loud voice from heaven saying,
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Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their
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God. We could spend quite a bit of time thinking on those words, about the tabernacle of God, right?
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You can go into the Old Testament and think about that, and the tabernacle that was erected, and why was it erected?
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Well, we could spend some time on that, but it certainly was to show that God was present, and that God was present with his people.
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We can go and look in John chapter 1, right? In the reality of Jesus coming and doing what?
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Tabernacling amongst us? What was it again? It was that great is the mystery of godliness,
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God is manifest in the flesh, and we beheld his glory.
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That the tabernacle of God is to teach us that God himself, in all his fullness, in all his glory, in all his majesty, in all his brilliance, in all his brightness, will be observed, will be seen.
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So it's not just the presence, but it's the glory of it all. Listen, my friends, the eternal state as a child of God should, it should explode in our minds.
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It doesn't always, because lo and behold, we are still in this heaven and this earth, and this heaven and this earth has a lot of issues.
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Amen? But he says that the tabernacle of God, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people.
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God himself will be with them and be their God. If you are thrilled of the person and character of God, then you ought to be thrilled that God, that one, the only true
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God, the omnipotent, omnipresent, all -knowing, all -powerful, all -reigning
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God will be in the midst of his people.
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And it's important, my friends, that it's not just his presence, but his glory. Just look at verse 22 and 23 of chapter 21, where he says,
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I saw no temple in it, where the Lord of God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple, and the city has no need of the sun.
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My brother Micah talked about that, right? There was no sun, we was in big trouble.
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But there would be no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the
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Lamb is its light. Man, the eternal state will be nothing but brilliance and brightness for those that are his.
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The Lamb himself will be our light. If you are a blood -bought, spirit -sealed child of God, this ought to thrill us.
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This ought to cause our souls to wait in anticipation for the eternal state.
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I have to move on real quick because, again, time. But I want you to just look at verse 4 for a minute.
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And this is where I really struggle because I really can't get my mind around this.
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And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, no sorrow, no crying.
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And there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Can you really set your mind onto the height and the depth and the breadth and the length of that?
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No more tears? No more pain? I guess that means no more doctors, which is fine with me.
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Just to begin to think about it. And here's the reason, and I want to make sure that I get at least this out.
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There's a reason why there will be no more tears, and there will be no more death, and there will be no more sorrow, no crying, and there shall be no more pain.
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And the reason is there will not be a curse. And there will be no more death because Christ overcame death for us.
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And there will be no more curse because Christ bore the curse for us. The eternal state will be the display of all that God has prepared for us through Christ.
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Can you get your mind around that, friends? No more curse? No more death?
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Therefore, because of that. That will cause us to understand what he next says in verse 5 even more, when it says,
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He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. The reason for it is the
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Lamb. The reason why we don't need the Son is the Lamb. The reason why we won't have no more pain is the
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Lamb. The reason why there's no more sorrow is the Lamb. He's the Alpha. He's the Omega.
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He's the author. He's the finisher. And I could spend a couple minutes on this, friends.
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That in the new heavens and new earth, even the creation itself will be curse -free.
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And if you don't think I'm where I ought to be, go read Romans 8 again. That even the creation itself waits.
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Because what was the premise when judgment came in the Garden of Eden? What did
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God say to Adam? Cursed is the ground. Why? For your sake, in the new heavens and the new earth that God will create, there will be no more curse even in the creation.
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I can't wait to see a creation without a curse. Or will there be heavens and mountains and oceans and this and that?
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I don't know, but whatever it is, get out of my way because I want to see it. Don't you?
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The eternal state is going to be glorious because He said, I make all things new.
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And He said to me, write for these words are true and faithful.
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The eternal state, again, is a manifestation of the faithfulness of God. In both ways, too, friends.
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To those that are sheep and to those that are goats.
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To those that are His and those that are not His. God will be magnified by all.
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Ought we not to consider if we are magnifying God in this heavens and this earth?
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And I'll say this to you, younger people, and you figure out who's young. Brother Jack, you're excluded from that age group.
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You're middle -aged. But I ask you, younger people, to think about this.
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Where are you going to be for eternity? Because the
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Lamb is going to separate the sheep. The Lamb is going to separate those that are
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His from those that are not His. It is by His power.
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It is by His decree. And again, it is something that He alone, in His own time, will make manifest.
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He said to me in verse 6, it is done.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
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I'm not going to deal with that so much right now because, again, I want to at least try to finish the first eight verses.
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But I also want you to look at verse 7. Because to me, these are scary words.
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And you might say, huh? How can that be scary? It says, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his
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God and he shall be my son. And you know what's scary about that?
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Is that there are going to be those in the eternal state that have not overcome. There are those that will be in the eternal state that will be overcome by the judgment of the
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Lamb. Again, I'll go back to what I said before. Most people will think about the difference between heaven and hell.
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Well, listen, the eternal state includes both heaven and hell. And everyone will find a place there, either as sheep.
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See, I'm left -handed, so I'll do everything with my left hand. But really, the sheep will be on this side, right? The right hand. And the goats on the left.
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He that overcomes shall inherit all things. And just the beauty of the words, friends.
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I will be his God. I will be his
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God and he shall be my son. Listen, we'll be able to ask our
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Heavenly Father for understanding, for upkeep, if you will, for all eternity.
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He will never say no. He will never say, depart from me,
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I never knew you. But my friends, there are going to be those there that will know nothing of it.
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And he takes us to verse 8. The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
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And I would add, in verse 27 of chapter 21, what is again told of the eternal state.
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There shall be, there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles.
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That means to pollute, to desecrate, to make unclean.
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And there'll be nothing there that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the
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Lamb's book of life. You know why the gates will never be closed in the
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New Jerusalem? Because they don't have to be. How's that? There's no need to.
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Because there's nothing there to defile it. There's nothing there to harm it. There's nothing there to hurt it. Why? Because God is there.
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And even that thought in Genesis of how when they sinned against God and were banished and the cherubim were there, and what were they to do?
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To guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden. In the eternal state, no one needs to guard it.
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Because there's no one there that will do anything to harm it. And again,
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I say to you, and I say this because maybe because I just don't understand or I can't get my head around it,
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I can't understand a sinless place. I can understand much easier a sinful place because I'm a sinner.
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But in the eternal state, sin no longer has any grip on me because of him.
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Can you get a picture of the throne now? Can you get a picture of the eternal state? Is it just some saint playing a banjo somewhere singing
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Bluegrass or Amazing Grace?
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But I know this, it'll be absolutely glorious. And friends,
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God will be honored in the eternal state whether you are his or not his.
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God will be magnified forever and ever and ever.
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I've heard people joke about hell, I'm sure you have. I've heard people say, well at least
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I'll have company if I go there. And I've been so tempted at times to say, you dodo.
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Yeah, I'll have company. Hey, I like the heat anyway. Or I'll figure a way out.
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Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. There will be no conversation.
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There will be no negotiation. There will be no termination.
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Well, I could take some minutes now and talk about purgatory and really rip that one to shreds. Because the eternal state, as I said to you, it is just that.
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The eternal state. So if I could summarize this to you this way.
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That for you to know Christ, or are known by Christ.
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For you who have been rescued, redeemed, resurrected.
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That you have a future that will be unending, unceasing, unparalleled.
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Unending joy and rest and comfort and understanding and worship.
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But if you're not, then you will have unending, unceasing, without termination, sorrow, pain, regret.
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I do think one of the things that men will gnash their teeth on is the fact that God, the righteous judge, has judged them.
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But I've often thought, and again I might not be right on scripturally with my thought.
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But I really think one of the great torments of being separated by God, from God.
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Will be, what have I done with God's son?
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How could I have rejected someone who is so wonderful and so glorious and so gracious and so patient and so compassionate?
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What have I done with Jesus? The eternal state will settle that for all.
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And I'll close with this. It's what he says in chapter 22, verse 20.
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He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly.
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Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our
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Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. May God bless us. Let's just close with a word of prayer.
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And then we can have lunch. Our Father in God, again, thank you, thank you, thank you for the truth that there is coming a day when this heavens and this earth will be gone.
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There will be a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And oh
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God, it's because of you, it's because of what you have done through your Son by the power of the
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Spirit and you will create a new heavens and a new earth for us. And we will enjoy it forever because you will be in our midst.
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And yet, oh God, we pray this morning, this afternoon, that you would help others to see that there is no other name under heaven given among men by whom we must be saved.
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Oh God, be merciful. Oh God, in your wrath, show mercy.
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Bring men, women, old, young, smart, not smart,
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Jew, Gentile, bring them to Christ. May they see the beauty of the lilies in the face of Jesus, in whose name we pray.